


Tongue-Tied

by distractionpie



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Crushes, Friendship, M/M, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-23
Updated: 2020-04-23
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:27:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23800768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/distractionpie/pseuds/distractionpie
Summary: Jean is a cool, attractive, clever guy. Nearly anybody would consider themselves lucky to date him. So how is it that every crush he gets ends up being on somebody he doesn't stand a chance with?
Relationships: Armin Arlert/Jean Kirstein
Comments: 11
Kudos: 65





	Tongue-Tied

**Author's Note:**

> I've been playing with a couple of ideas for this ship and my contrary brain gave me this scene that doesn't quite fit with any of them, so have a little standalone of Jean's terrible crush.

"It's never going to happen! He thinks I'm a total jackass."

Jean buries his face in his hands. There are plenty of beautiful people at their school, many of whom recognise his coolness, so why did everyone he fell for come from the small number who wouldn't even give him the time of day?

“I think you’re being too harsh in your assumptions of his judgement of you,” Marco assures him. “He’s smart enough to understand that you and Eren share responsibility for your fights.”

Urgh. What fairyland had Marco been raised in, to be so implausibly optimistic?

"Somebody has to be at fault," Jean points out. "And they're best friends, so Armin's never gonna think _Eren's_ the jackass.”

“Oh... um...”

The year Jean turned eight, they had almost a month of snow. It had coated the whole town in an impenetrable layer, closing schools and bringing traffic to a halt, and lingered longer than any young child could reasonably stay cooped up indoors. The park had been covered too, but that hadn't stopped children from playing, snowmen and sledding were a rare treat. Jean had preferred snowballs, had been running backward when the ground had given away with a near silent crack and sent him plunging into the ice and snow covered pond. The water was only a few feet deep, but he didn't think he'd ever forget the lurch of the fall, the moment of panicked flailing, before he was engulfed by icy numbness, losing all sense of himself to shock and helpless. 

Hearing Armin's voice behind him feels much the same. 

His knees somehow manage to lock and go weak at the same time, but, much as he doesn't want to acknowledge however much of that Armin overheard, ignoring him can only make this more awkward and so Jean tries to force a smile, feels a grimace and surrenders that fight, but turns anyway.

“Thanks, I guess," Armin continues, and he looks more disconcerted than disturbed, offering Jean some hope that Armin missed the most damning lines, though it’s still frustrating to once again be the idiot to blame for the creases in his brow. "Should I ask why you’d be discussing that?”

“No,” Jean pleads, throwing a hand over his face. “No, you absolutely should not ask.”

Armin laughs. It's a nice laugh, almost a believable ‘you’re funny’ laugh rather than a ‘oh no, you’re insane and I’m laughing because I’m too polite to run away.'

"Okay, leave me fantasising," he teases, and, even knowing that he doesn't mean it anything more than the casual imagining sense, Jean can't help but feel his face heat with memories of all the time he's spent wishing he could be a figure in Armin's fantasies. "But I do need one answer from you."

"Anything," Jean says, then realises what an idiot he must sound. "I mean, you can ask anything, y'know. Not that I'll do anything, that would be dumb."

"I wasn't in history on Tuesday—" 

"I noticed."

Oh god, why had he just said that? Way to sound like a stalker, Jean. Could the ground just swallow him now?

“—and Mr. Schultz is away for the rest of the week with the newspaper field trip, and if I don’t find out until Monday I won’t—”

“There’s not,” Jean blurts, then cringes. Their weekly homework. What else would Armin be interested in from him? “Schultz said we could have this week off, since the trip means we won’t be getting the marks from last week’s assignment until he returns.”

“That’s nice of him,” Armin observes. “It’s good he appreciates how important his feedback is in order to make the next piece better.” As if he doesn’t always get near-perfect scores. “Thanks Jean, see you in class. You too, Marco.”

Marco waves and Armin heads off to, urgh, probably hang out with Eren or something. He’ll tell Eren about this conversation and Eren will rant to Armin about what a tool Jean is, and, knowing Jean luck, Mikasa will be there so they can talk about his disastrous middle school crush on her too, because of course Jean would keep falling for the friends of his worst enemy.

“Oh god.” Jean sank to the ground. Well, if Armin hadn’t thought he was a stupid asshole already... “Did that really just happen?”

“I know,” Marco says brightly. “Well done.”

“What?” Jean stares up at him. “What the hell Marco, which part of any of that was ‘well done’?”

“You said something nice-ish and made him laugh,” Marco offers. “And solved his homework concerns. You're doing great."

“Nice- _ish_?” Jean groans. If that’s the best Marco can come up with there’s no hope for him whatsoever.

“Well, baby steps.” Marco shrugs. “Given that you were talking about Eren, nice-ish is a pretty big deal. I’m sure Armin will like the idea that you appreciate how much his friendship with Eren means to him. It makes a good impression, to be respectful even when regarding somebody you don’t like. Nobody wants a boyfriend who will try and restrict their friendships.”

“Seriously, could you set the bar any lower?” Jean complains. “I’m not a creepy control freak. Great. Yay me. Shame about everything else I guess.”

Marco wrinkles his nose. “I didn’t mean that’s all you had going for you, just that was the area you were at most risk of giving a bad impression. And now you’ve resolved it.”

So if he’s lucky Jean has been upgraded in Armin’s eyes from asshole-who-hated-his-best-friend to total-fucking-weirdo. No doubt Jean can expect a prom invite any day now.

“Can you please stop being optimistic and kill me now?”

Marco, who is far more of an asshole than anybody would ever believe, just laughs.


End file.
